GLEN CARBON – The Father McGivney Catholic High School girls soccer team ended a near-perfect regular season Thursday night.
The Griffins hosted the Triad Knights on a windy evening and won 2-0. McGivney finishes the regular season with a 21-1 record. It was the 15th shutout of the season as well.
Tuesday was the Griffins’ fourth straight win since that lone setback on May 5 against Columbia, and another win against a quality opponent.
The Griffins have beaten three huge Southwestern Conference teams recently: Edwardsville, Belleville West, and Collinsville. The tail-end of their regular season schedule featured some big challenges, and they rose up to them.
The wind was definitely a factor on Thursday. The Knights had it at their backs in the first half, but didn’t take much advantage of it.
The game’s first couple of chances did come from Triad, both testing McGivney’s junior goalkeeper, Peyton Ellis. She saved Lilly Zobrist’s shot from right inside the 18-yard box, pushing it out for a corner kick. Ellis made another big save in the 27th minute against Averi Moore’s shot.
That’s all the first half wrote, and now McGivney had the wind advantage.
But with just under half an hour left in the game, it was sent into the first of two lightning delays. The first one was quick, as the incoming storm was deemed still far enough away to continue playing.
The brief pause didn’t interrupt anything for the Griffins. They won a free kick in the 66th minute from about 35 yards out. Devin Ellis stepped up to take and unleashed a long-distance effort that curled and swerved through the wind, fooling Triad keeper Payton Hartmann.
She got both hands on it for the save, but the ball still found its way into the back of the net. It was the eighth goal of the season for Ellis.
The game was then stopped again with exactly six minutes remaining. This one lasted nearly an hour, as an isolated thunderstorm rolled through the area.
But the teams decided to finish the game and retook the field at 8:40 p.m.
To close the game, Emerson Isringhausen scored, assisted by Rachel Kretzer, to make it a 2-0 game.
Triad slips back to 15-5 to close its regular season.
The Knights earned the No. 1 seed in the top half of the Waterloo Sectional. They await their first-round opponent and will take on either No. 7 Olney Richland County or No. 8 Salem in the Mascoutah Regional semifinals on Tuesday, May 20, at 4 p.m.
McGivney’s postseason journey begins Friday, May 16. The Griffins also earned a top seed in the upper bracket of the Belleville (Althoff Catholic) Sectional.
They’ll host No. 8 Metro-East Lutheran at 5 p.m. The regional final is set for Tuesday, May 20, at 6 p.m. at Father McGivney.
